Let’s have some fun with this weird German language!
In this series of posts, I’ll show you how to make your German speaking colleagues laugh, with ONE simple sentence.
Die Kurve kriegen
(to get the turn)
Imagine you’re driving at high speed on a German highway (auf einer deutschen Autobahn).
Suddenly, in front of you, the highway takes a sharp turn (eine scharfe Kurve).
If you don’t change the direction (die Richtung), you’ll crash, right!?
So you better manage to stay on that road (auf der Straße).
And that’s exactly what we mean with this German expression.
So, when you’re facing a challenging situation that could lead to a negative outcome but you’re still able to manage the situation and get your act together, we say in German:
- Du hast die Kurve gekriegt!
Meaning:
- You got your act together!
- You managed it (though it was challenging)!
Got it?!
So here’s your action step:
Imagine you’re having a coffee break (eine Kaffeepause) at work with your German-speaking colleague Wolfgang.
Wolfgang starts trash talking about your boss (über deinen Chef).
What a bad listener (ein schlechter Zuhörer) he is.
How he always interrupts people (die Leute).
And what a know-it-all (Besserwisser) he is.
Suddenly (Plötzlich) your boss steps in.
Wolfgang changes his angry face from a few minutes ago (von vor einigen Minuten) into a big smile and friendly asks your boss (und fragt deinen Chef) how he’s doing.
After the chat with your boss, get closer to Wolfgang (nähere dich Wolfgang) and whisper in his ear:
- Wolfgang, da hast du nochmal die Kurve gekriegt! (Wolgang, you managed this!)
And this is what it sounds like:
Then, tell me in the comments below how he reacted :-)